Chapter 160 – Follow The Trail To The Northern Plains

Duke Ferias had mentioned in advance that we would be departing today, so I stood in the corner of the plaza to wait for Ares and Muriel, but…

“Kuon… Gaogauru kyuafa~n” (Brother… it won’t stop itching~)

Snugly tucked into the leather bag that hung from my belt, the little fox held onto her nose while hitting me with her other paw out of spite.

(I did tell you yesterday and the other day that you didn’t have to come along though.)

Anyway, now that I think about it, my sense of smell isn’t faring well either. It’s because we’ve been helping out the Duke and Muriel with the preparations for the past two days.

As to what we’ve been doing, we have been going into the city outskirts and buying cold-resistant herbs such as lavender and rosemary and collecting similar herbs in the forest.

According to Muriel, some aromatic herbs contain insect repellents and certain poisons to make them more difficult for insects to eat as a means of self-preservation. Well, that’s great, but… being exposed to different aromas around the clock did a number on my sister’s sensitive sense of smell.

(I didn’t expect that the sensory dulling from my humanization has its advantages too.)

However, I was also affected since I still maintain some sensitivity to smell, and I unconsciously half-turned to the several horse carts carrying large amounts of straw and herbs nearby.

At that moment, I caught sight of Ares and the others approaching me from a side street.

“Hey, still not feeling well?”

“Nah, it’s better compared to yesterday.”

While waving and responding to Ares, I also waved to Riberto who had been walking alongside him, and Muriel who was walking behind them.

“Good morning, Archer. We’ll be counting on you during the campaign.”

“N, we’ll be in your care.”

“Sure, I’ll do my best…”

“Kuruu!” (Me too!)

Do you want to join in? It was interesting to see my sister, who was being self-assertive, respond to them even if she didn’t understand the language. I cracked a small smile and checked how many Adventurers had gathered, and saw that among them, I could also see Knights who were organizing the units in the city square.

“Captain Eldric, the preparations for the second platoon have been completed.”

“The third platoon is also ready to go.”

“Preparations for the horse carts and other personnel are… still underway. Grace!”

In response to the call, the female Magic Knight that I saw at the tavern last time stopped taking count of the Adventurers and her blonde hair which was tied up in a side ponytail with a red ribbon swung softly when she turned around.

My attention turned to their direction, but I couldn’t hear what they were talking about from here.

The command line of the Adventurers who are members of the guild is independent of the soldiers, so Grace was informed yesterday that she would be in command of the Adventurers as she is a “Gold” rank. They’re probably talking about marching formations and the distribution of personnel during the battle.

As I narrowed my eyes and observed them, I felt Muriel’s presence beside me.

“Ms. Grace is so cool. She’s so strong and pretty!”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

“But I haven’t seen her in a commanding role before… I wonder what’s up?”

Ares’ question was valid since the Adventurers’ unrestrained nature means that even if a high-ranking Adventurer had the right to lead those underneath them, it still does not mean that there is an established chain of command. Well, if it were me, I wouldn’t want to be in charge of that group of people though.

(I guess the difference between Adventurers and Mercenaries is that we’re used to being ordered around and carrying those orders out…)

But now that I think about it, in the Kobold’s ecology where hierarchy is valued, the loose chain of command is more suitable to my nature. While I was lost in thought, I turned to Ares who had his doubts about the Magic Knight, and shared my theory with them.

“There’s no point in pushing a free-willed Adventurer to do this and that, so they’ll probably let us move freely with the people we work with daily.”

“Hmmm, but isn’t that inefficient?”

“But even so, it’s a more practical approach.”

You can’t expect to command them like a platoon without regular training, and unlike Soldiers, Adventurers have huge variations in their abilities, so the only way to make it work is to group them with people whom they are familiar with and work with daily.

While I was discussing with Ares and Riberto, a bell rang from the cathedral building near the city square which announced the time.

In this age, the time that governs people’s lives is often managed by the Holy Church for worship. Each church has adopted several time-telling devices such as a sundial which operates based on the movement of the sun, a fire clock that measures time by how the candles melt, and a water clock with a planetary gearing system which is powered by the flow of water.

In other words, there is a time difference between cities and towns because of the uneven precision of these clocks.

If I remember correctly… The clock in the Warren cathedral is a state-of-the-art mercury clock that has been created after inviting scholars and engineers from the eastern countries which the Duke’s chamberlain claims that it never freezes in winter and always tells the time accurately.

After a while, the ringing stopped, and just after the mage that the captain called cast their magic, the captain’s voice echoed throughout the square while creating huge vibrations in the air.

“It’s time. I think everyone is already gathered. So from here, we will head to Grau village, follow the trail to Valley Ants’ nest, and battle. That’s all. Prepare to move out!!”

The guards are the ones who take the initiative to move, followed by the Knights on horseback who were surrounded by foot soldiers as they left the city square. Following this, Ms. Grace also called out loudly to the Adventurers.

“Everyone, each party will come together with the others to form a unit! For now, we will head to Grau village to escort the transportation corps!”

“Let’s get this over with and have a drink with the reward money, shall we? Let’s go!!”

Her partner, a warrior clad in steel armor, moved among the crowd as if he didn’t feel the weight of his equipment, and encouraged the Adventurers to move out. During that time, another party waved to us as they approached.

“Good morning, Muriel!”

“Oh Eina, long time no see.”

“Ares looks like we’ll be working together this time too.”

“That’s very reassuring, Zachs.”

Muriel held hands with a fellow female Mage in a friendly manner, while Ares and Riberto lightly tapped the shoulders of a dark-skinned, rough-looking Warrior in greeting, but… Who are these people?

I was feeling alienated as I was the only one who was unfamiliar with these new faces when a fair-skinned female warrior approached me with a smile.

“Umm, are you the temporary member working as Mirea’s replacement? Nice to meet you, my name’s Reedy.”

“Oh, yes, Ares recruited me… I’m Archer.”

While I was talking with the woman who had a soft atmosphere about her, it seems her attention was caught by the small fox in the leather bag by my waist, and even the slender man who was carrying a bishop’s staff was looking my way, so I looked at Muriel and silently asked what to do.

“N~, maybe we should get a move on too.”

When I checked our surroundings at her prompting, the last of the guards and most of the other Adventurers had already left the plaza following the transport corps, and Ms. Grace was already glaring at us as if she were telling us to “hurry up already”.

“… Yes, I guess we should.”

It was terrifying to be glared at by a beautiful lady so I meekly nodded and left the plaza with Zachs and the others.

As expected, there were no powerful monsters that could attack a large group outside of the city, so the different units proceeded without any problems, and we arrived at Grau village by sundown.

Since the escaping villagers were attacked outside the village, there were barely any bloodstains left inside the village and there were no bodies found since they had been cut up by the ants’ strong jaws and taken back to their nest. Therefore, there were no traces left behind of the cruel attack, but… by the way Riberto was scowling and saying something under his breath, I had an idea that it had left quite an impression on him.

After confirming the various other damages to the food supply and livestock, the teams spent the night in Grau village and proceeded to the northern plains the next day by following the trail of bent grass and the giant ants’ huge tracks and closed the distance to our destination which was their nest.